i09 writer Ron Miller uploaded these fantastic photos of 70s Cosplay costumes.
They have a slightly Kenntheth Anger-ish feel to them. Well, Ken Anger meets a Star Trek convention, maybe…
Do yourself a favor and go to i09 to check out Ron Miller‘s mega-upload of 70s Cosplay photos.
E.V. Day/Kembra Pfahler, Untitled, 50” by 50”/Edition of 3
There’s an online gallery of the amazing new collaboration between Dangerous Minds pal Kembra Pfahler and E.V. Day that’s been posted at Dazed Digital. The photos were shot in France at the famous gardens of Claude Monet in Giverny:
Pfahler told Dazed:
“I find that when your motives are very clear, it sets the tone for how people treat you. The gardeners there were so happy to see the costume juxtaposed with the verdancy of the garden – we got nothing but kindness from those we encountered. It was our intention to spread joy and it was contagious. So we didn’t come into any harmful objections from anyone.”
E.V. Day on Kembra:
“What I admire about Kembra – and the archetype she created, Karen Black – is that she explores the darkness that comes with extreme beauty, without losing sight of the humour in there, too. Plus, Kembra is about the sweetest person I ever met – except when she’s hungry and in the back of a tiny Renault that’s lost in Paris traffic.”
The work is currently on exhibit until April 24th 2012 at The Hole, 312 Bowery, NYC
Below, director Bijoux Altamirano’s music video for The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black’s “Bring Back The Night”
Look at my fucking red trousers! is a “collection of photographs in celebration of the vibrant and burgeoning red-trousered communities of London and elsewhere.”
What started out has an experiment with using rope as a material to make a flat rug, quickly turned into a whole other project of shaping the rope into extravagant masks for artist Bertjan Pot. He says, “The possibilities are endless, I’m meeting new faces every day.”
More masks after the jump…
The platform shoes to-die-for were Frank N. Furter’s in The Rocky Horror Picture Show - those bejeweled white heels made Tim Curry’s first appearance as the sweet transvestite the epitome of glam. And gorgeous he was too.
Elton John may arguably have had the best platform shoes, but his tended to veer into stage props, eventually leading to those sky-high Doctor Marten boots in Ken Russell’s Tommy. And of course, there was David Bowie, Twiggy, and a host of pop stars sashaying around London on pairs of ankle-breakers. Like Oxford bags, bell bottoms, high-waisters, and bomber jackets, the platform shoe epitomized the androgynous nature of seventies fashions. Originally devised as stage shoes in Greek theater, platforms have been in and out of style through the centuries, at various times used by prostitutes to signal their availability and profession (to literally stand out from the crowd), and were popular in the 18th century as shit-steppers, used to avoid effluent on the road. However, their greatest impact was in the 1970s, when they were the boot of choice for seemingly everyone under 30.
I had a pair of 5 inch heels, blue patent leather, divine to walk in, impossible to run in, and not the expected school uniform. This British Pathe featurette takes a look at the trend of platform shoes from 1977.
Via British Pathe
I was saddened to hear that Royce Reed, co-star of the “Royce and Marilyn” viral videos has passed away. According to the Royce Obsessed Facebook page:
“She passed Tuesday evening. In her sleep they believe heart attack.”
In 2009, when I was guest-blogger at Boing Boing, I helped get the ball rolling on the Royce and Marilyn craze:
It’s hard to believe that this jaw-dropping series of videos of Royce Reed and Marilyn Hoggatt isn’t a massive YouTube sensation… but it will be. Take one (huge) part “Grey Gardens” and add a hefty dollop of Peter and Raymond from “Shut Up Little Man!” and you kind of get into the Royce and Marilyn territory. But not quite. It’s as unique as either and yes, it totally deserves to be spoken of in such esteemed context with these aforementioned FREAKS.
Royce and Marilyn are two elderly ladies from “another era” and these videos document their lives in a SRO hotel in Los Angeles’ downtown “skid row” area (where they share a bed). One of them is happy-go-lucky and content with her life, the other is totally haughty with delusions of grandeur and an ever present glass of bubbly. It’s one of the most tweaked things I’ve seen in some time.
Werner Herzog will plotz when he sees this! These videos are the best thing since medical marijuana.
And so they are!
Royce’s partner in crime—or straight-man in their comic duo—Marilyn Hoggart, died last year. Their YouTube videos will live on forever.
LA Weekly ran a lengthy profile of the pair back in 1999: “Forever Fabulous”
More Royce and Marilyn after the jump…
I hate saying the overused “Wow, just wow!” but this wicked handmade Boba Fett handbag by catpenfold deserves it. Sadly, it’s sold. However, I spotted an equally amazing Doctor Who Ood clutch still available for purchase at her Etsy shop.
Via Neatorama
‘What did you do in the 1980s, Daddy?’ For those who want to know what it was like to be young(ish) and middle class in Britain during the 1980s, then take a look at the Pet Shop Boys in their one-and-only feature film, It Couldn’t Happen Here. Originally planned as an hour long pop promo to accompany the release of their third album Actually, It Couldn’t Happen Here captures the style, the pretensions, the cultural obsessions and some of the most popular music of that decade.
The Pet Shop Boys are a hugely under-rated band, whose compelling, beautiful and catchy music by Chris Lowe, can often disguise the power and passion of Neil Tennant’s lyrics. For you see, despite what the music press claims (that means you NME), or the modes by which the band present themselves (daft hats and outfits), there is really nothing ironic about the Pet Shop Boys at all. They mean everything they do. Which is why It Couldn’t Happen Here is so frustrating. It could have been like The Monkees Head for the 1980s, with a hard, political edge, but it wanders without any sense of direction through a series of segments that revolve too literally around the songs.
That said, for a pop film it’s not all that bad, and the quality of the songs, and some of the eye-catching performances (Joss Ackland, Gareth Hunt, Barbara Windsor) make it almost passable. If only Derek Jarman (who collaborated on a stage show, and directed the promo for “It’s A Sin”) or Lindsay Anderson (the director of If… and O, Lucky Man! who would had directed the concert film of Wham, yes, Wham, in China) had been asked to direct rather than Jack Bond, then things might have been different. Even so, Bond made it look sumptuous and Neil Tennant found out he couldn’t act.
Time methinks to release the film on DVD.
My dear friend, Paul Darling, posted this image on his page. Instantly, it attracted attention as so many different people seemed to agree with the statement:
My idols are dead and my enemies are in power.
Maybe it connected because we live in the UK under a Tory government? But friends in Europe also agreed. And yes, there is something alluring about this photograph, and something also quite French and existential. So, what do you think? Does this image speak to you? If so why?
While you have a wee think about that, here’s The Stranglers “No More Heroes”.
With thanks to Paul Darling!
Paris: City of Fashion is an elegant little featurette from British Pathé, which looks at a variety of women’s fashions from the 1950s, posed against the boulevards and avenues of the gorgeous City of Lights. Watching it makes me feel I should be Cary Grant wandering around markets on the lookout for a Swedish 4 shilling, an “Hawaiian Blue” or a “Gazette Moldar”.
